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'Dancing With the Stars' results: Personality split

May 4, 2010 | 11:17
pm

Alas, as Tom said, the double entendre count is going to drop
dramatically. And so will the viewership of 12-year-old boys. Despite coming in
fourth place after last night’s performance, it was Pamela Anderson who ended
up with the lowest point combination in this seventh week of “DWTS”
competition, and she and partner Damian Whitewood
were stripped of their chances to win the coveted Mirrorball trophy.

And while it was definitely Pam’s time to go (she did have
the lowest individual dance score of the week, after all), I’ll be sad to see the
“Stacked” star go. In addition to her refreshing candor, the recap montage emphasized how great the “Baywatch” babe’s characterizations were, and how different they were in
every dance. How fitting, then, that her final waltz showed nice, lilting, romantic Pam as Pam, free of any
put-on characterization. And this way, at least she won’t have to deal with aggravating her
hurt leg.

It was a nicely-paced results show to go along with
Monday night’s lovely spate of performances. Len kept his Pixar green shirt and
yellow tie on for the recap, which he called “the best week of the season.” It also allowed the head judge to bring out his inner diva when he
forced a hip shake and crooned out an “ooh, ah, Team Gaga.”

Which led us to the encore dance: the Team Gaga cha
cha. And it was another stellar performance, this time with Chelsie Hightower
donning the metallic sequins and fringe and playing the part of the aggravated
Pamela Anderson.

Train performed twice. Their first song was “Hey, Soul
Sister,” which ballroom fans might remember as the tune the house
band squeaked to bits earlier this season. Luckily for us, this version betrayed
no cracks whatsoever, and came with an adorable routine featuring Chelsie, a
healed Mark Ballas(!), Lacey Schwimmer, Dmitry Chaplin, Tony Dovolani and
Cheryl. The band came back to perform their hit “Drops of Jupiter,” which was
notable in that the accompanying dance heralded the return of Karina Smirnoff,
who, to my recollection, had not made an appearance all season. There was also
that impressive double split between Karina and Louis Van Amstel at the
routine’s end. Yowza!

Cirque du Soleil came out for the Macy’s Stars of Dance
segment, performing a number from their Las Vegas show “Viva Elvis.” Former
“DWTS” contestant Priscilla Presley even came out to commemorate the event.
Love how the dancers’ costumes were made to ’50s styles, but the colors were reminiscent of a big-top circus. And didn’t that main blond guy look like Derek Hough at
first glance? Though when I thought the number was going to be relegated to merely a bunch of blue-suede shoe hoofing, the performers broke out into the trademark death-defying Cirque acrobatics at
the end, and that girl did an eyebrow-raising handstand on that guy’s hand, and then was subsequently tossed
around and dropped to within an inch of her life. Fun stuff!

There were two pre-taped segments: One that interviewed the
remaining pros about the mounting pressures at the season’s end, done in
extreme profile. And then Season 8 finalist Melissa Rycroft came back to
perform different “DWTS” jobs, from production assistant to director to hair
and makeup artist to stage manager, to give us a taste of all the work that it takes to
put an episode together. She also exposed the show’s most persnickety personalities.
That Tom Bergeron – what a diva!

Erin and Maks had a little scare as they were relegated to
the bottom two early on in the program. (The other potential evictee, Niecy Nash,
was saved pretty early on, and was used to the hilt backstage for her witty and
entertaining quips.) It seems as though Erin’s had a tough go of it as of late.
She’s been getting some grief from a certain daytime personality. And to be put
in the bottom two on her birthday? The indignity! It was doubly tragic,
considering how their salmon color clashed with the damning red of those bottom
two lights. But luckily for her and Maks, it was the voters who saved the ESPN
reporter, and allowed her to dance another week.

What do you think? Did the right person go home this week?
Are you hoping Niecy will pull off that “wardrobe malfunction” to make it to
the final round? Who’s the alpha dog, and who’s the omega sheep in the
competition?